How Soon After Breast Surgery or Chemotherapy Does Radiation Therapy Generally Start?

Question: How soon after breast surgery or chemotherapy does radiation therapy generally start?

Answer: If chemotherapy is not given, we wait until the surgical scars heal. There's no rush. So typically, we'll wait two to four weeks following the surgery, and then begin radiation. If we give radiation following chemotherapy, of course, we have several months, and then it's just a question of the chemotherapy finishing, blood counts coming back towards normal, and then we begin radiation promptly.